Opium Wars - Imperialism in China

The Opium war was during the Imperialism in China. The western Europeans were still exploring places, trying to find new resources. In China, they've found their tea and they loved it. The British only had one port in China. The British didn't like it, so they decided to trade Opium to the Chinese people for their tea. The people in China realized that it was a dangerous drug and they make it illegal, and whoever uses it can get killed. Afterward, China destroyed the Opium and banned the English men from China. This caused British to attacked China & the Britain won the war. China was so far behind from the new advanced technology & that was the main cause of why they lost. China's defeat by Britain made them sign a treaty.

Film lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

In this movie two men go to the middle of Africa in which no one has been before in search for the Nile River. The men were accompanied by African men, unfortunately many men died of mosquito diseases and malaria. They went from village to village trying to get some help & giving girts to the kings. Both of the men disagreed on how they found the Nile River & as a cause of that one of the men committed suicide. Many of their men died of diseases & thirst.

When the Nile River was found they named it Lake Victoria after a queen from British. This was because the British men found the lake so that lead to the conquering of Africa. The Europeans had such advanced technology that the Africans didn't know what a gun was, therefore had no weapons of those kinds. This made it a lot easier to conquer them.

Imperialism Project

We did the Imperialism project to understand the trades that were done & from where they were done. I learned that many things were imported from Africa for example, England needed cotton to make more clothing. While doing the project it showed how each country try to take over other territories. Another thing that was imported from Africa were slaves & I learned that there was a slave trade for the New World.

Karl Marx and Communism

Karl Marx was the person who came up with the idea of Communism during the Industrial Revolution. He got this idea from Utopia (a perfect world), in Communism everyone gets paid the same amount of money no matter what job you have. Karl Marx hated the industrial revolution because he believe people were being exploited cause the workers only got poorer and the richer got richer. He beleived that the worker should take over and kill all the bourgeoisie (factory owners). In Karl Marx mind the bourgeoisie were evil and money hungry while the worker and the good people being used my the bad. Karl Marx wanted Communism to take over the world because believed it would bring posterity and good to the world.

Karl Marx and The Industrial Revolution

Karl was born in Trier, his dad forced the family to become Christian so Karl could get a job because they were poor. He was the man who created the government system, Communism. Communism is a form of government that spreads the wealth and everyone gets the same amount. Karl used the idea of Utopia to then develop the government of Communism. He was totally against the Industrial Revolution because the rich would get richer and the poor would get poorer. He was also sick and tired of the way workers we get treated and how they would use children in the factory when the concision were so dangerous. He wanted the people in the factories to rebel and take over the factory. After he died, he ideas and ways were known as Marxism. His ideas influenced a lot of people and even influence nations. the first nation that used Marxism was Russia and these form of government failed after 70 years because they were tired of only having one choice and seeing Americans on the TV with so many options to pick from. . So because of the Industrial Revolution Marxism became very popular with nations like China and Russia. Communism still is a from of government in some countries.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

Nationalism is when people take pride in their country or nationality. Nationalism is everywhere and are expressed in many different ways. Nationalism is made up of people that speak a common language, similar culture, food, same currency and sharing a common love for their country. I am nationalistic by speaking the common language which is English. You can also tell when someone is supporting their nation by how they dress. The food I eat can show my nationalistic.

If it wasn't for nationalism Italy wouldn't be what it is today. In 1815, Italy was ruled by Austria. From 1815-1848 Italy grew tired of being ruled over by another country. A man named Cavour helped unite Italy. Because of Cavour they won several battles, and he also helped nationalistic rebels win. Because of Cavour Italy separated from Austria and became independent on their own. Cavour was the George Washington of our time.

Simon Bolivar & the Latin American Revolution

Simon Bolivar was born in Caracas, Venezuela on July 24th of the year 1783. In his time, he was one of the greatest generals in the South America. Bolivar's parents died when he was a child and he inherited a fortune. He was called "The Liberator" in South America. The Spaniards made Simon Bolivar to retreat from Venezuela to "New Granada" which is now called Colombia. He captured Bogota in 1814 with the help of his Colombian force. His victories over the Spaniards won independence for Bolivia, Panama, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela.

Simon Bolivar went to Spain & met a women named Maria Teresa Rodriguez Del Toro y Alaysa. Bolivar then returned to Venezuela in 1803 and his wife died of yellow fever. After the victory of a few more battles, Bolivar traveled to Haiti in 1815 and petitioned their president Alexander Sabes Petión to help the American Spanish cause. With the help of Haiti, Bolivar was led to a great victory in the Battle of Boyaca in August 7, 1819.

John Locke and "The Enlightenment"

John Locke was a man of great intelligence, he inspired a lot of the people is the 1800's. He was one of the most famous guys in the age that the Declaration was written, he contributed to the idea of making it. The government gets it's power from the people, without the people the government wouldn't be what it is today. "We the people" are the first 3 words in the Declaration of Independence which means, it's all because of us that we have a good government.

The idea of the Declaration of Independence was inspired by words that John Locke made, which Thomas Jefferson took into his own hands and made an idea out of it. He also had a huge influence on modern democracy, some things may not have been here if John Locke wouldn't of made such a big impact.

Copernicus and the Trial of Galileo

The Geocentric theory explains that in the solar system the Earth is the center of everything & that everything revolves around it. Back in the day , many Philosophers that were Greeks & Chinese was popular with the idea. They also though that the sun, stars, planets made a perfect circles around the Earth.

The Heliocentric explanation of the solar system is that the Sun is the center of the universe & that the planets revolve it. The way the planets circle the Sun is in an elliptical shape. This theory was mathematically proved by Nicoluas Copernicus. Heliocentric is the correct explanation of our solar system , it was also developed by the Scientific Revolution. Many religious people like the Catholics in the church were against the theory because they believed in the other theory. Today in life the theory is accepted in almost everywhere.

The Catholic church didn't believe that the Earth was in the center of the Universe. This is why Galileo went to trail. Galileo was an astronomer , philosopher & mathematician and also was one of the people who helped in the Scientific Revolution. Galileo was punished but not put to death , he was tortured in jail.

Scientific Revolution: The Scientific Method

The Scientific Revolution started by having many questions that the church couldn't answer. The way scientist would answer their answers is by using Scientific Method. The experimented over & over again to approve or disapprove an idea. Scientist started to prove the church wrong. The Scientific Method included of : making observations , then making a "hypothesis" describing what you see , with the hypothesis you'll make predictions & test it with a experiment. When you've done that a few more times then you'll make sure you have the same results.

A theory that uses Scientific Method is what Galileo did with Aristotle theory that heavier objects fall faster than lighter objects. Galileo threw a bowling ball & a baseball from the Learning Tower of Pisa. They both fell at the same rate. He found out that different weights fall at the same speeds.

Evolution VS. Creation

The theory evolution is based on man being animals, and we all come from a common ancestor. This theory was started by Charles Darwin, even though Charles Darwin was the first one to come up with the theory , he was he first one to write a book about it he had lots of evidence . The theory also states that the world was to hot for life to form. It took many years for the first spices to form, after formed it took many,many more years to make us humans a.k.a animals. Charles Darwin first discovered that this theory was correct when he went to Galapagos Island. He saw the different type of finches each island.

Creation is based on God making two human beings who reproduced making all these people in the world today. The theory is in the Bible, naming Adam & Eve reproducing to give birth to two sons. For all these people to get made has to pass millions of years. The theory has been passed on by many generations.What the theory hasn't done is explain how two males reproduce to make more people ? There has been many questions & even priest can't answer them . Creation is a theory where you are brothers & sisters of everyone , somehow .

I agree more with the evolution theory because it makes more sense to me. The mutations over years are more realistic. I've been taught to that theory growing up. Evolution explains that all animals & humans have the same ancestors. I believe that evolution has many different ideas of how natural selection has worked over centuries.